Hero Kiwis Built an Island in New Zealand For a New Year's Eve Party

A group of New Zealanders in the town of Tairua on the Coromandel peninsula rang in the New Year in the best way possible: by building an artificial island in the middle of the estuary to avoid a ban on public drinking, the BBC reports. The island was made from sand and seashells, balanced out with some wooden planks, and topped with a picnic table.

The heroic band of kiwis and their American friends reportedly claimed they were in “international waters,” according to Time, and so were not subject to the drinking ban. Despite the fragile legal standing, the group isn’t likely to suffer any consequences (hangovers aside), as the mayor of Thames-Coromandel, Sandra Goudie, told Time that the group’s ingenuity was “a bit of creative and innovative activity over the summer period.” Local inspector John Kelly even went so far as to say he “probably would have joined them”, had he known about the project.